Oatmeal Pie Cookies

Last week in honor of National Education Week our PTA ordered a catered lunch for us.  My boxed lunch came with the most perfect Oatmeal Pie cookie I'd ever had.  A few days later I wanted another one and set out to find the recipe.  

After searching online forever I was about to give up when I decided to browse through this local church's cookbook that my mom gave me several years ago.  And miraculously, I found a recipe that I thought would work for the cookie part.  It was simple and I had all the ingredients already.  With the addition of cream cheese frosting it was as good or better than what I was aiming for.  I have to give out credit to Julie Hoffner from St. Luke's for this one.

Quaker's Best Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 24 cookies (12 sandwich cookies)

1 1/4 cups butter, softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups old fashioned Quaker oats

Heat oven to 375.

Beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and spices; add to butter mixture, mixing well.  Stir in oats.  Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.  Flatten out batter for a flatter cookie.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Cream Cheese Filling

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

Halloween Spider Cake

This cake was made for my kid's halloween party.  I went with the spider so the Jehovah's Witnesses could still partake in it.  I made this using my soccer ball Wilton pan (also used for the Hydrangea cake).  It's proven to be quite the multi-tasker.  

Everytime I make black frosting I always wonder why I started.  I used a chocolate frosting recipe to begin with but it still took the entire jar of black coloring.  It was really easy besides that.  Cherry sours for the eyes, candy corn teeth and licorice legs.  The kids were really impressed.

Nutella + Brownies= happiness

Lately I've been on a nutella kick.  So naturally I've been lookng up all the nutella recipes I can find.  The first I've tried (of many I'm sure) is from Giada De Laurentiis.  

Gianduja Bars

Ingredients

Brownies (I just used Betty Crocker's Supreme Brownie mix) 

1/4 cup nutella  

1/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts  

1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used a mix of white chocolate and milk chocolate)

Directions

Bake the brownies as directed on the package.  Remove from oven and spread with nutella. Sprinkle the brownies with chopped hazelnuts. Top the nuts and chocolate chips. Put brownies back into the oven and bake for 5 to 7 minutes until the chocolate is starting to melt. Transfer the brownies to the refrigerator and let cool until the chocolate hardens, about one hour. 

Strawberry Jam

New attempts: Jam.

It was pretty simple actually. People seem to be somewhat impressed when I give them a jar of jam and tell them it's homemade but really it was one of the easiest recipe that I have made lately.

What I was most impressed with was the idea of canning itself. I always watched my grandmother can basically everything when I was little and thought it was such an ordeal. But using the oven to heat the jars was the trick. Then they were all sealed and my grandmother was impressed.

Now if only I had some bread to make toast...

Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 large lemon, zested and juiced
1 1/2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled and halved

Directions
Combine the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over very low heat for 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the strawberries and continue to cook over very low heat for 20 minutes, until the strawberries release some of their juices and the mixture boils slowly. Cook until a small amount of the juice gels on a very cold plate. (I keep one in the freezer.) Pour carefully into 2 pint canning jars and either seal or keep refrigerated. Use immediately, or follow proper canning guidelines below.

To sterilize jars, before filling with jams, pickles, or preserves, wash jars and lids with hot, soapy water. Rinse well and arrange jars and lids open sides up, without touching, on a tray. Leave in a preheated 175 degree F oven for 25 minutes. As a rule, hot preserves go into hot jars and cold preserves go into cold jars. All items used in the process of making jams, jellies, and preserves must be clean. This includes any towels used, and especially your hands.

I promise I still bake

I moved and my computer refuses to accept internet connections at my apartment.

Things I'll have to update when it does:
*My first fondant cake
*My "naughty" bachelorette cake
*A few cookie recipes
*Magnolia's Cupcakes

Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake with Ganache

Everything a chocolate cheesecake should be.

Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake with Ganache

~Barefoot Contesssa

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (10 crackers)

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the filling:

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee

1 3/4 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature

For the ganache:

1/4 pound semi-sweet chocolate

1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the crust:
Place the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and cinnamon in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until combined. Pour into a 9-inch springform pan. With your hands, press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, chop the bittersweet chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Add the espresso and stir until just melted. Set aside until cooled to room temperature.

To make the filling:
Cream the cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla and almond extracts and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed of the mixer to medium and add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well. Scrape down the bowl and beater, as necessary. With the mixer on low, add the sour cream, and the cooled chocolate mixture. Mix thoroughly and pour into the cooled crust.
Bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and allow the cake to sit in the oven with the door opened wide for 1 1/2 hours. Take the cake out of the oven and allow it to sit at room temperature, until completely cooled.

For the ganache:
Finely chop the semisweet chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Add the cream and stir until just melted. Set aside until cooled to room temperature.

Remove the cake from the springform pan by carefully running a hot knife around the outside of the cake. Leave the cake on the bottom of the springform pan for serving. Drizzle the ganache over the top of the cheesecake.

Summer Fruit Crisp

OK, another fruit dessert. It started out being a crostata. I made my pastry dough, put it in the fridge, cooked several other things, and by the time I got it out to roll the kitchen was 95 degrees and it just wasn't going to happen. So my Summer Fruit Crostata became a Summer Fruit Crisp. I think it was for the best really because the combination with Breyer's vanilla ice cream (the kind with the little vanilla bean specks) made everyone very happy.

Here is my recipe, I think, I threw it together pretty fast.

1 lb black plums
1 lb peaches
1/2 pint blueberries
zest and juice of one orange
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Peel the peaches and cut into wedges along with the plums. Add in blueberries and toss with orange zest, juice, sugar, and flour. Pour into baking dish.

Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, oatmeal, and the cold, diced butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is pea-sized and the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly on top of the fruit. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly.